When I think of where I started and where I am today in relation to my career, I could have never predicted the road I find myself walking down.

My aspirations as a youth never once crossed the path of teaching, and yet here I am nearly 23 years after first having walked to the front of a classroom to teach.

As the world around me and my own knowledge of it continues to evolve and grow, I often wonder where the road I am on will lead me in the next year let alone the next five years. Do I still see myself as an instructor of adult education? Are there other opportunities I want to pursue while I am still young enough to do so? The answer is yes to both. I thoroughly enjoy the career that I currently have, teaching international nurses medical terminology and preparing them for their nursing studies here in Canada, but I also think a bit of a shake up might do me good and push me in a yet uncharted direction with opportunities for new knowledge, learning hurdles, and unforeseen goals to be set and met.

One way that I know I will continue to evolve personally and professionally is by continuing to be a student myself. Over the years that I've been studying the PIDP at VCC, I have come to learn so much about myself and the ways that I communicate with people on a multitude of levels. I understand better the needs of my students and ways that I am able to fulfill those needs, and realize how I can fill my own needs through better understanding the underlying framework of who I am and what I do. Reflective Journaling goes much further than the classroom, and life has become much more meaningful as a result.

With my Capstone quickly approaching on the horizon, I see myself looking to new horizons with the knowledge that I have gained through years of teaching and learning. With the coursework load that I have had, and life changes that I have gone through over the past few years, there hasn't been much time or opportunity to branch out and take on more meaningful work, but that is something that I am very interested in doing as I have long wanted to be able to give something to members of society who need it the most, whether through volunteer work or job change.

I believe that the next year or two will be a pivotal point for me, and I myself am interested to see where I will be in the next five years.

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Shauna Sasaki

I fell into teaching over 22 years ago and haven't looked back. Although I had never planned on getting into this profession, I discovered that I loved it and have never felt that I was teaching. Opening the world of possibilities to my students, and giving them support to be able to reach out far to achieve their goals, is where my passion in teaching lies.